BP £251-a-second profit gusher

OIL giant BP is nearly to fill the $2.6bn (£1.6bn) hole in its US pension fund after making profits of £251 a second in its last quarter.

High oil and gas prices have allowed Britain's biggest company to set aside $2bn to pump into its State-side schemes over the rest of the year.

BP chief executive Lord Browne said the payments were subject to market conditions but hinted there may be enough cash left to continue the company's buyback of shares.

BP employs more than a third of its 116,500 workforce in the US and its American pension fund has taken a battering from tumbling stock prices. Its UK pension scheme was one of few with a surplus at the end of 2002 - $316m.

Tony Alves, oil analyst at Investec, said: 'They obviously take their pension funds seriously and they have the means to do this.'

Browne called the group's net cashflow of $7.3bn for the second quarter 'robust' and said crude prices were likely to remain high as Iraq struggles to match pre-war output and oil demand grows over the second half. Underlying profits in the three months to 30 June rose 42% to $3.1bn, above City forecasts, despite a 5% slip in production.

BP is transforming its exploration portfolio and quitting older fields in areas such as the North Sea to concentrate on new 'profit centres' such as Angola, Azerbaijan and Trinidad.